Bánh xèo

According to Yotam, this recipe is a vegetarian adaptation of a traditional Vietnamese pancake, typically made with fatty pork and prawns. He writes about his experiences in Hanoi in 2007 in the introduction to this recipe, and how mind-blowing he found the freshness of the vegetables and herbs in the local cooking. Even without venturing to a more exotic location, making this recipe last night was mind-blowing for me. I absolutely loved the combination of flavours and textures that comprise the omelette and its fillings, and the sauce that accompanied everything took it over the top. This recipe is definitely within my top five favourites from Plenty and I can see making it constantly. And I think I might try the sauce as a marinade for grilled chicken at some point, or possibly modify it a bit for a salad dressing. It was so good.

What I enjoyed about this recipe in particular is that it allows me to create a big platter of omelette fillings to set on the table to be served from. I love to cook this way, as it allows for a wide range of customization within a single meal, making it easy to suit my tastes in the moment or allow guests to adapt the meal to their own preferences. This also makes it easy to substitute other fillings in if you are shy one or don't particularly care for a listed ingredient. Everything here is also very fresh, with a minimum of cooking, which allows me to keep the kitchen cool during the warmer weather we've been having lately - not to be undervalued in a tiny place with no air conditioning. The meal also came together quickly - even with vegetable prep, I think this took ~15-20 minutes to put together, and I could probably streamline it to a solid 15 with a bit of tinkering in the recipe order.

Try this one. I don't think you'll be disappointed. As usual, the ingredient list is as presented in the book and the written description includes my alterations and observations.

Bánh xèo

(p. 54, Plenty)

Serves 4

Pancakes

1 1/3 cups rice flour

1 small egg 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground tumeric

1 3/4 cups coconut milk

a little bit of sunflower oil

Sauce

2 1/2 tbsp lime juice

1 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 fresh red chile, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

Filling

1 large carrot, peeled

1 daikon radish, peeled

4 green onions

1 fresh green chile

1 1/2 cups snow peas

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

2/3 cup loosely packed Thai basil leaves

1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1 cup enoki mushrooms

First, a few alterations: I only had large eggs, and so used one of them rather than a small one. I also was out of coconut milk, and so substituted almond milk which I had on hand. I will make the omelettes with the coconut milk next time to see what the difference would be. I was also out of rice wine vinegar, and so substituted white wine vinegar. I grated the garlic on my rasp grater and added it to the sauce rather than having a crushed clove floating around. I was out of mint, and so that was omitted. I also was out of sunflower oil, so I used unflavoured olive oil instead.

To prepare the pancakes, whisk together the flour, turmeric, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl or measuring cup add the coconut milk and egg and whisk together until well combined. Set aside both mixtures until you want to make the omelettes. Yotam advises that you can mix the wet and dry ingredients together now, but that the batter will thicken as it sits and require thinning with additional coconut milk or water before it is cooked into omelettes. I decided to not mix the wet and dry ingredients together until I was ready to cooke them to avoid having to tinker with thinning the batter later. 

To make the sauce, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Feel free to adjust the amount of chile to your desired heat preference; at this level, there is a very mild heat. I think if I were to do it again, I'd raise it to two chiles. Set the sauce aside until serving.

To prepare the filling, shred the carrot and the daikon. I used the large holes on a box grater and that worked well. Slice the green onions on an angle into thin pieces, and the snow peas into long, thin strips. Pick the herb leaves from their stems and put them into an appropriate bowl for serving. Slice the chile into long, thin strips as well, cleaning out the ribs and seeds to mitigate some of the heat if you so desire. Place the prepared herbs and vegetables onto a platter or into individual bowls according to your preferences. Add the mushrooms and the bean sprouts to the platter or place them within their own serving dishes. Set the fillings aside until you are ready to serve the meal.

To make the pancakes, combine the dry mixture of ingredients with the wet ingredients that had been set aside earlier. Whisk thoroughly to combine them. You are aiming for a thin, very fluid batter that Yotam describes as having the consistency of light cream. Heat up a frying pan (Yotam suggests nonstick; I had to use what I had, which required more oil), and add a minute amount of sunflower oil. Let the pan come up to roughly medium heat - you don't want things too hot here.

Pour roughly 1/4 of the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth it out into a circle. The edges can be thinner than the middle and get crispy if you like them that way, or the pancakes can be all the same thickness. I found the batter had a tendency to make cakes that were thicker in the middle and therefore required a bit of help from me smoothing them to have a more even thickness throughout. Let the cake sit undisturbed in the pan for 2-3 minutes, or until the underside starts turning a golden brown colour and the top of the cake has bubbles popping on most of its surface. Flip the cake over and cook for another ~2 minutes until the other side has started to turn golden as well. Remove from the pan to a serving plate and keep warm while you cook off the remaining three pancakes.

To serve, place a warm pancake on a plate and arrange your desired vegetables and herbs over it.

Drizzle with some sauce and dig in. I found it enjoyable to fold each side of the cake over the filling and eat it like an open-bottomed burrito, or you could fold it in half like a taco if you wanted to, or even use a knife and fork. I found the sauce would seep through the cake fairly easily and so get onto my fingers, but I figured that was part of the fun.

Enjoy!

Leftover fillings and sauce held well in the refrigerator overnight last night, but the leftover cakes came out stiff and more prone to breaking. I'd recommend making the cakes fresh each time you want them.

Fresh Red Currant and Walnut Muffins

I was recently in British Columbia on a road trip. Three of us went, and we were lucky to be hosted by family while we were there. Our hosts took us being there very seriously and went out of their way to show us a good time and great food. As we were packing up the car to head home, we were gifted with a bag of fruit to snack on for the ten hour ride back. In the bag was a smaller bag of fresh red currants, which I had only gotten to taste for the first time on this trip. They are wonderful - bright, slightly tart flavour and brilliant gem-like colour.

We didn't eat them in the car and so I decided to experiment a bit and make muffins out of them so they wouldn't go to waste. Good life choice.

Fresh Red Currant and Walnut Muffins
makes 12

2 cups (10 oz) flour
2/3 cup sugar (mix half and half with brown sugar for a bit richer flavour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup roasted walnut-infused olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup buttermilk (or milk with a squirt of lemon juice in it if you don't have buttermilk)
2 large eggs (best at room temperature)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh red currants
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400F and prepare a muffin tin your preferred way. Set aside for now.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to blend everything together. Add the lemon zest to the dry ingredients and whisk again to evenly distribute. Make a well in the centre of the bowl.

In a large measuring cup, combine the olive oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until everything is thoroughly combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients and mix gently with a rubber spatula. You want to mix until everything is combined and the batter looks fairly smooth. A few small lumps are okay, they will disappear during baking. Gently fold in the currants and walnuts until they are evenly distributed through the batter.

Portion the batter out evenly among 12 muffin cups. If you want to add a bit of special, stir together 1 tablespoon of sugar with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Let cool for ~5 minutes before snacking. I actually like these better at room temperature than really warm.

Impromptu Chocolate Soufflés

It's been a while and the time I've been spending not-here has been full of good things. I went on a ten day road trip with some friends, introduced them to my home city and then went adventuring in British Columbia. I surprised myself by jumping off a 25-foot cliff into the clearest turquoise water I have ever seen. I tried all kinds of new foods, gave my camera a serious workout, and came home slightly sunburnt and happier than I have been in some time.

And it's not just me experiencing the good times - a friend recently passed her Comps with flying colours and two others recently bought and moved into their first house. We ended up having an impromptu housewarming party on Sunday night, playing board games and baking. I hadn't planned on writing a post for this so I didn't take my good camera, yet it seems that I have developed a habit of photographing most of the cooking that I do now. I thought I'd write this up to show that soufflés aren't that hard despite their reputation - we were mucking around rather haphazardly and they turned out beautifully. The biggest thing to remember is to beat the egg whites enough and not to forget the cream of tartar. We made two batches as there were seven of us there; one batch used Lindt single source Madagascar 70% chocolate, and the other used the Lindt Black Currant chocolate. The currant soufflés won the night, I think. Give some thought to using a flavoured chocolate if you want to experiment - I imagine a mint or chile chocolate would be fantastic as well.

Chocolate Soufflés
recipe slightly modified from Dinners and Dreams

Makes 4

For coating the ramekins
1 tbsp salted butter
1/4 cup of sugar

For the soufflés
3 oz good quality dark chocolate (70%+; consider using a flavoured chocolate)
2 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp unsulphered molasses
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground clove
3 egg yolks

4 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar

To get started, butter the sides of the ramekins. The original recipe says to use melted butter, but I prefer to use cold butter from the fridge as I find that melted butter tends to slide down the sides of the ramekins while I am working on the rest of the recipe and therefore doesn't do quite what it is intended to do. Once the ramekin has been buttered, pour roughly one tablespoon of sugar into each one and tip them so that the sugar sticks to the butter that you've just applied. The goal is to coat all of the butter with the sugar, so if you need a bit more sugar to make that happen, top up as required and then tap out the excess. What this preparation does is created something for the soufflé batter to cling to as it rises, helping to make the dessert light and airy. Once the ramekins are prepared, set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Chop the chocolate you are planning on using into fairly small pieces. This will help it melt faster. Place the chocolate into a medium sized, microwave safe bowl. Add the butter, molasses, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and clove, and then microwave everything for 30 seconds. Stir everything together until it has evenly melted. If there is still unmelted chocolate after stirring, microwave everything again for another 30 seconds.

Separate three eggs, reserving the whites in a large bowl for later. Add each yolk to the chocolate batter individually and whisk until fully combined before adding the next yolk. The batter will thicken a bit with the addition of the egg yolks. Once all three yolks have been added, set the chocolate mixture aside for now.

To the reserved egg whites, add an additional egg white and a pinch of cream of tartar. Beat the eggs into soft peaks - they will create soft mounds when you pull the beaters out. If you are in doubt, beat the egg whites a bit longer. It's better to be closer to stiff peaks than have the whites not whipped enough or you won't get the rise you are looking for once they are in the oven. We whipped 8 egg whites at once, and it took us ~15 minutes to get to the right consistency.

Fold the whipped egg whites into the chocolate batter using a rubber spatula. As you fold, the batter will start to lighten in colour. Folding takes time, but is better than regular stirring in this case because it helps to preserve the volume of the egg whites. Keep folding until everything is well combined and a fairly uniform colour.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared ramekins.

Place the ramekins in the oven (I usually put them on a cookie sheet to make moving them around a bit simpler) and bake for 12-13 minutes. They will look like they have taken a deep breath and will have lovely, domed tops. Do not open the oven while they are baking, as they could collapse due to the change in temperature.

Once they have finished baking, remove them from the oven and serve quickly. Soufflés will deflate as they cool (read: within moments) - this will not affect the flavour, but will impact the presentation. 

They can be served on their own or accompanied by some fruit, ice cream, etc. Enjoy!

Cake and Meteors

I was really lucky this past Saturday, in that I was able to go out to the family farm of an acquaintance of mine with a group of friends and take in the Perseid meteor showers that were happening over the weekend. The night consisted of a bit of distance from the city, a tractor tire ring as an impromptu fire pit, a few telescopes, a cuddly spotted cat, and a lot of fun. We were having such a good time that 3 am snuck up on us rather unexpectedly. The stars were beautiful, the meteors relatively plentiful and I got to tend the fire all night, which is always something I enjoy immensely. We even taught a few people how to make s'mores. I have to admit, I was a bit gobsmacked that there were people my age who had never had a s'more, but at least that has been remedied now.

A close friend had celebrated a birthday recently and I decided to make cake and ice cream to take out to the Star Party. I made a batch of the Saffron Spice Gelato, because he loves chai tea and saffron, and then decided to make a spiced cake to go with. For the cake I wanted something that would travel well as we were piling into cars to leave the city, so that meant no icings or serving syrups. Which creates a bit of a challenge - how to make a cake flavourful enough that no one was going to feel gypped that there was no icing?

I started poking through Dorie Greenspan's Baking and came across her recipe for Cinnamon Squares. I decided to adapt it a bit, subbing out coconut sugar for the white sugar, removing the frosting and chocolate from the batter, and substituting hazelnut extract in place of the vanilla. The results were fantastic. The swap to coconut sugar was a great decision - the cake was less sweet so the spices stood out more, and the flavour of coconut sugar is subtly different, kind of toasty. You can make this cake with regular white sugar (that is what the original recipe calls for) but if you have coconut sugar, give this a shot.

The cake was decimated by the happy crowd before I remembered to take pictures, but I figured I wanted to post the recipe because I know I'll make this again. The ribbon of espresso and cinnamon through the middle of the cake was a very inspiring combination, and I used it again today trying to make some macarons. The cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks suddenly makes a lot more sense to me as a flavour profile. The espresso flavour it not terribly strong in this cake - it adds more of a deep richness than a distinct coffee flavour. I would encourage you to give it a chance even if you aren't actually a fan of coffee as a beverage.

The gelato melted on our way out to the party (despite the ice; I think I am giving up on ever transporting gelato or sorbetto to anywhere more than a 20 minute drive away. None of the times I've tried it have been successful) so we ended up using the melted gelato/custard as a pouring custard, which was actually very delicious. I'd do that again. Intentionally, even.

This cake as listed makes an 8x8" square pan; I doubled everything up to make a 9x13"pan with decent height. It keeps well covered at room temperature, but I doubt it will last terribly long as it is so exceptionally snackable.

Cinnamon Cake
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Cinnamon Squares)


For the spice ribbon in the cake:
2 tbsp sugar (I used white sugar for the ribbon)
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp instant espresso powder

For the cake:
1 1/4 cups coconut sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups flour
pinch of salt
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp hazelnut extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp melted butter (10 tbsp), melted and cooled


Centre the rack in the oven and preheat it to 350F.

Prepare an 8x8" square baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Either line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper, or lightly flour the bottom of the pan.

To make the spices for the spice ribbon in the cake:
Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and espresso power in a small bowl and mix until everything is well incorporated. Set the bowl aside for now.

To make the cake:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and hazelnut extract. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk gently until everything is well combined and there are no streaks or pockets of dry ingredients left in the batter. Then gently whisk in the melted and cooled butter until it is absorbed. The batter will be smooth and glossy.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth it out as best you can. Sprinkle the reserved sugar/spice/espresso mixture evenly over the batter. Carefully pour the remaining batter over the spice mixture, sandwiching it in the middle. Smooth the top carefully - you'll find it won't want to stick to the bottom layer because of the layer of dry spices, but it will smooth if you are patient with it.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the cake has puffed up and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. A skewer inserted into the cake will come out clean. Let it rest in the pan 15 minutes before attempting to unmolding it, or leave the cake in the pan, pile it into the car, and go on an adventure. Your call.

^_^

Serve plain or with ice cream and/or fruit (raspberries would be choice), warm or at room temperature.
Enjoy.

Tomato, Semolina, and Cilantro Soup

I am heading back to Alberta for roughly a week this coming Friday; part of the trip will involve collecting a few boxes of my things from a friend who has been storing them for me, and the rest will entail something of a road trip with a few friends who want to explore Edmonton before venturing to southern British Columbia for a few days.

Part of leaving for any length of time involves cleaning out the fridge. I hate coming home to things that have spoiled, so I pre-emptively go through and cull what might go through zombification before I get home again. Usable things I try to give to friends and the rest goes on a brief journey to the bin. Going through the fridge today revealed that I had leftover egg whites, celery, cilantro, and tomatoes that desperately needed something done with them before they edged over into the discard pile. I really hate throwing out food; not only is it wasteful which makes me feel uncomfortable when there are so many going without, it's also bloody expensive eating for one and having to throw things out because I didn't get to them doesn't make life any more affordable. It's something I have been trying to get better at. My ex and I had a fair number of arguments because my enthusiasm would frequently over-run my organizational ability and we would end up having to throw things out. I know it used to drive him crazy. Working on it now is a bit late for salvaging the situation between us, but hopefully it makes my life easier as I work on being alone.

So: egg whites, celery, cilantro, tomatoes.

The egg whites went into a set of cinnamon and espresso macarons that ended up with hazelnut buttercream as a filling. They weren't quite perfect (hollow and I think slightly underbaked), but they were still tasty.

The celery, cilantro, and tomatoes ended up going into the Tomato, Semolina, and Cilantro soup from Plenty. This soup is pretty straightforward to make and quite filling - a good option for cool weather. I'd serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches on a dark bread if I were feeling indulgent, or with a side salad dressed in something sharpish with something else salty in it - feta, olives, capers, perhaps - if I wanted something lighter. I found the soup fairly mild in flavour, but tomato-y; it probably wouldn't go amiss to add some parmesan or feta to the soup itself if you were feeling so inclined.

As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book and the notations include my observations and alterations.

Tomato, Semolina, and Cilantro Soup
(p. 130, Plenty)

Serves 6

3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
2 tsp finely chopped thyme
3 1/2 cups cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 medium tomatoes (1 lb in total), peeled and finely chopped
salt and black pepper
~6 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 cup semolina
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
3 tbsp Greek yogurt (optional)

In a medium/large pot begin heating the olive oil over medium heat. Once it comes up to temperature, add the onion, celery, coriander, cumin, sweet paprika, thyme, and half the chopped cilantro.

Reserve the remaining cilantro for the garnish off to the side somewhere for now. Sauté until the onion is starting to soften and turn a golden brown.

 Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.

 Add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper, and let everything cook for a few moments. As my tomatoes were very soft, I ended up crushing them in my hands over the soup pot and peeling them that way - the results were far more rustic in appearance, but it seemed more efficient than trying to peel them with a knife or boiling them briefly to separate the skins from the flesh. Plus, this way was more fun. ^_^ 

Add the water and sugar to the pot and bring everything to a boil. Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat a bit and simmer the soup for 20 minutes. 

To add the semolina to the soup, have it already portioned into a small container that you can easily pour from. You will need to pour the semolina out in a thin, steady stream while whisking with your other hand. This should prevent any lumps of semolina from forming, although if they do, don't fret - they'll be like little dumplings by the time everything is finished cooking and so aren't really much of a detractor. 

 Let everything continue cooking for another 10 minutes, whisking occasionally. During this 10 minutes, things will thicken considerably and take on an almost porridge consistency. If that isn't to your preference, you can add some more water or broth (I'd go with chicken broth if I had the option) toward the end of cooking to loosen things up again. Taste and add more salt and pepper if required, as well as the lemon juice if desired. I highly recommend the lemon juice, it helps things pop.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with the reserved cilantro and yogurt, if desired.

This was an interesting texture experiment for me. I don't think I can think of it as a soup, as the thickness of it borders on scoopable and, to me, soups need to be pourable. So in my head it's more like a stew or porridge. That said, it was fairly tasty, although perhaps on the bland side. I added some shredded parmesan as well as the cilantro for garnish and that helped a bit, but I think if I were going to do it again, I'd sub out 3 or 4 cups of the water for a robust vegetable or chicken stock and simmer a few parmesan rinds in the soup as it is cooking to try and round out the flavour a bit more. I might also increase the tomato paste a bit and caramelize the onions further. I did enjoy the texture, and I could actually see this as a good brunch food on a cold and wet morning - it has definite stick-to-your-ribs-ness going for it and a very fresh flavour.

Solo Tomato Party

I've been relishing the quiet and sense of freedom in my flat today. I've tinkered, puttered, worked, mused, and created all day. It's been lovely. It occurs to me that it was almost two years ago that I moved out to Regina. I started out living with a friend here and after a year moved into my own tiny place. I've grown to love living alone over the last twelve months and have just renewed my lease signalling my intent to continue living alone for the next year. Alone-ness is something I used to be very afraid of and I did everything I could to avoid it. It seems funny to me now that the thing I was trying so hard to avoid was the very thing I probably needed more than anything else.

Living alone has its challenges - there isn't someone to help you out instantly if you are sick, need a hand, or require a bit of companionship. But I've been lucky and made friendships and cultivated relationships to the point where maybe the help or presence isn't instant, but it's still there if required in any of those situations. In some ways, I find that a better fit for me, as it's been teaching me self-reliance and forcing me to explore the outer edges of my own creativity for dealing with situations that I perhaps might have previously avoided or only dealt with minimally or haphazardly.

A former classmate whom I esteem greatly posted this list from Buzzfeed, and it surprised me how many of these apply to me now. It makes me wonder if I was wrong thinking I was an extrovert for so long, or if there's been such a noticeable shift in my personality... probably some of both. I can be social, don't get me wrong, and when I am in the mood for people, I can be very gregarious, but I am so glad I've learned that I don't have to be "on" all the time, and that it's okay to take time (even days or weeks!) to myself. I've noticed that I need dedicated recovery time if I've been in large groups or been too social, and I am getting better about taking that time. I still have a hard time saying no to people though, which sometimes conspires against me - in particular when I go home to visit. So many people to see, and I don't want to disappoint any of them! This whole process of learning to be alone has involved a lot of mental dialogue about what I think of as selfishness in regards to my own behaviour, and learning that maybe a little of it on my own behalf - like claiming alone time or recovery time - isn't actually "selfish" at all. But it's hard sometimes to go against all the mental chatter that says I have to be everywhere at once, volunteering, assisting, go, go, go.

Today felt like time outside of time, if that makes any sense. It was very relaxing and left me especially open to all of the nuances of tomatoes while I was cooking this afternoon. Tomatoes are pretty pedestrian to me - I've grown up with their ubiquitous red presence, and for the most part, they've never seemed exotic or strange; in fact, they tend to get looked over and taken for granted. Or at least that was true until I'd read the ethnography Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail as part of one of my undergraduate Anthropology classes. I stopped taking them so for granted after reading that book, but I didn't really cook with them in any greater frequency, bar as bases for sauces and such. Moving to an urban centre introduced me to other varieties of tomatoes that I'd never seen before - yellow ones, tiny ones that were striped green and burgundy, bright green ones. I developed a little foodie crush on tiny cherry and grape tomatoes, snacking on them like I would popcorn if they were available. But I still didn't cook with them much, preferring them raw most of the time. Today, for the first time I can remember, I cooked with a variety of them.

 As I cooked, I admired their various bright colours and shiny skins, the differing levels of sweetness and acidity. According to Yotam, the Tomato Party recipe was developed to showcase all the types of tomatoes available, and to play up their "tomatoey"-ness. I had a few from the farmer's market and some from the grocer and all of them were pretty much perfect. If you have an abundance of tomatoes at your disposal, give this dish a try as a means of exploring this tasty tribe. As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book, and the written description incorporates my own observations and alterations.

If you don't have Sardinian fregola (Yotam says it's available at kalustyans.com), you can use Arab mograbiah (from Middle Eastern grocers) or Israeli couscous. Or you can leave out the fregola and double the quantity of couscous. I ended up making only Israeli couscous and it was lovely.

Tomato Party 
(p. 131, Plenty)

Serves 4

3/4 cup couscous
salt
olive oil
2/3 cup boiling water
1 cup fregola
3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
3/4 tsp brown sugar
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp roughly chopped oregano
2 tbsp roughly chopped tarragon
3 tbsp roughly chopped mint
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small green tomato, cut into thin wedges
3/4 cup red cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Prepare the couscous - if you are using regular, fine grained couscous, put it into a bowl with a pinch of salt and a little bit of olive oil. Pour the boiling water over it, stir everything together, and cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap or an inverted plate. Set it aside for ~12 minutes, then remove the covering and fluff everything with a fork. Leave aside to cool. If you are using Israeli couscous, you will want to prepare it according to the directions on the package. I ended up simmering mine in some chicken stock which was a great decision.

If you are lucky enough to have the fregola, add it to a pan of boiling salted water and simmer for ~18 minutes, or until al dente. Drain it in a colander and give it a rinse under cold water, then leave to dry completely.

Assemble your tomatoes:

Quarter the vine ripened tomatoes and arrange them over half of a large baking pan. I lined the pan with parchment paper to make cleaning up a bit easier, and ended up cutting each tomato into sixths because quarters seemed unwieldily. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the sugar as well as some salt and pepper. I ended up using coconut sugar as my brown sugar was completely dried out, but it's such a small amount that almost any sugar should be fine. Drizzle the tomatoes with some balsamic vinegar and a little bit of oil. I used a pomegranate infused balsamic because I had it on hand and it smelled fantastic.

Place the tomatoes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

While the tomatoes are baking, prepare your herbs if you haven't already. I ended up using oregano, lemon thyme, rosemary because they were what I had on hand that where fresh and I figured different herbs were probably better than no herbs at all. I have to say, I am really enjoying having herb shrubs in my flat.

Once the herbs have been chopped, slice the yellow cherry tomatoes if you haven't already. I didn't have quite a cup's worth of yellow ones, so I added a few red ones to make up the difference.

After the tomatoes in the oven have baked for 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and increase the heat to 400F. On the empty side of the baking pan, arrange the cherry tomatoes. Season them with some salt and pepper and drizzle them with some olive oil.

After the oven reaches the higher heat, return the pan to the oven and roast the tomatoes for ~12 minutes.

Once the tomatoes have finished roasting, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. This is important for the presentation - if you mix the hot tomatoes into the couscous right now, they will turn to a not so aesthetic mush, although they will taste just fine. I know this from experience. Cooler tomatoes will hold their structural integrity a bit better.

As the tomatoes are cooling, slice the green tomato into thin wedges. I didn't have one, and so it was omitted. I chose to dice my garlic rather than leaving a crushed clove floating around the bowl.

To finish preparing the dish, mix together the couscous and the fregola if using in a large bowl. Add the  cooked tomatoes with any juices that accumulated on the pan, herbs, chopped garlic, cherry tomatoes, and green tomato wedges.

Very gently mix everything together with your hands. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if required. A splash of additional olive oil might be desired as well. Spoon into serving bowls and enjoy.

I enjoyed making this recipe. I didn't have the full measure of herbs and I was a little impatient waiting for the roasted tomatoes to cool and so got some less cohesive ones after mixing, but that was just fine. I stand by my decision to cook the Israeli couscous in some broth as it helped add a little bit more savoury character to the overall flavour. If you aren't up for chicken stock, a good veggie stock probably wouldn't go amiss. I don't think I'd try a beef stock though. I've never had fregola before, so I can't help but wonder if that might be adding to the flavour of the base and if I was missing out on something by not having it. I think this might make a good picnic salad, but I'll be a better judge of that once I try the leftovers tomorrow.

Saskatoon Muffins with Lemon Thyme and Feta

I had a really wonderful day yesterday. I woke up leisurely but early, and not at all hung over - a surprise, given my wine and video game shenanigans the night before - got up and started researching immediately, and then broke to take care of the many mundane chores I needed to accomplish. I felt happy and was productive for the first time in quite a while. Once my chores were done, I accepted an invitation to go out and meet some of the artists who paint the murals all over town, which was spur of the moment and quite fun. The evening was spent having dinner with some of my extended family as my Grandparents are here picking up my small cousin and spiriting him away for a few weeks of adventuring in Alberta. Unexpectedly, my happy productivity followed me home, and I decided to take advantage of it to bake.

But before I get to the recipe, I'd like to post a few things I have been exposed to recently in case anyone is interested:

• A former classmate of mine has recently started her own blog on the food of the Northumberland Shore of Nova Scotia. Penny has recently completed her M.Div and has been working with different congregations on the east coast. Her blog focuses on exploring local food sources, recipes, and contemplating the connections between cooking, consuming, and community. You can check out her blog here. It's giving me wanderlust. 
• Bill Corbett and I connected at a company holiday party a few years ago and spent a delightful few hours chatting about food and wine and all things delicious. He has started a road blog, documenting his experiences with affordable, independent eateries in the western United States and Canada. Of particular interest to some of you might be the two entries he wrote about locales in Edmonton, which can be found here and here. I absolutely love the watercolour portrait in his banner. ^_^
• I discovered a new magazine called Kinfolk, which is dedicated to small, food and camaraderie focused gatherings. What really caught my attention was the format - it's divided into four parts: the first part is for solo expeditions and experiences, the second for duos, the third for "few". I was quite taken with the idea of a publication advocating for individual experiences and solo activities and hope to see more like this in the future. Also, the photography is stunning. 
• Bianca and I had a beautiful brunch earlier last week, and I wanted to post a picture of it so I remembered how fantastic it was. I'm still getting used to my new camera lens:
  

Now, back to the baking...

Originally, I had wanted to make the Feta, Roasted Red Pepper, and Basil muffins from Sur la Table's Art and Soul of Baking. Reviewing the recipe helped me to realize that I was short both the roasted red pepper and the basil required to make the muffins, so I decided to improvise. I have a healthy shrub of lemon thyme growing on my windowsill, and I had a bag of saskatoon berries in the freezer which had been brought to mind when my Grandparents served the saskatoons they had picked during their travels today as part of the dessert this evening. My goal was not a sweet muffin, but rather a more savoury one, and I think it worked out fairly well.

Saskatoon Muffins with Lemon Thyme and Feta

Makes 12 

2 cups (10 oz) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup (3 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

I cup saskatoon berries, stems removed (if they've been frozen, they can remain frozen until adding)

3 tbsp lemon thyme leaves 

1 cup buttermilk*

1/4 cup (2 oz) olive oil

1 large egg

*In a perfect world, I would have used buttermilk, but I didn't have any. So I substituted 1 cup vanilla flavoured soy milk (I swore I'd bought the unsweetened/unflavoured, but apparently not) with ~1 tbsp white lemon-infused balsamic vinegar. You can improvise your own buttermilk this way using regular milk as well; what you are after is a bit higher acidity to set off you baking soda and baking powder properly which contributes to the rise of the muffins. I recommend a slightly fruity vinegar here if you have one - apple cider or even a red or white wine vinegar, but regular white vinegar will work and will not leave your baking bitter, I promise. I used one of my infused vinegars because I had it around and it added another little kick of citrus flavour to bump up the subtle thyme. You could also use an infused olive oil to add a bit more flavour, but I didn't have one with a flavour that I thought would work in the profile I was creating. I'm tempted to try this recipe again but substitute the white lemon balsamic for the dark pomegranate balsamic that I have just to see what happens... If you don't have fresh thyme on hand, you can substitute an equal amount of finely chopped fresh basil. Don't used dried herbs here, they won't give you the flavour the recipe intends. If you like a sweeter muffin, add ~2 tbsp sugar to the dry ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 375F and centre a rack in the oven. Prepare 12 muffin tins - if you are using metal pans, coat them with cooking spray or melted butter, or paper liners as you prefer. If you are using silicone cups, no additional grease will be required. Set the pan aside for now.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Crumble your feta, portion out your berries, and prepare your herbs. 

Lemon thyme grows in a shrub and has many tiny leaves along each small branch of the plant. It takes some time to pick all of the leaves off, but as you work on it, everything starts to smell citrus-y and wonderful, so it's not an unenjoyable task. Put these three ingredients aside for now. 

In a large measuring cup, measure out the milk, olive oil, and egg. Whisk everything together until well blended and then stir in the herbs. Set aside for a moment.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then pour the wet ingredients into the well. 

Mix everything together with a spatula until there are no streaks or pockets of flour in the batter and the batter looks relatively smooth. Then add the herbs, feta, and saskatoons. 

Mix everything together until the cheese and berries are evenly distributed through the batter. Working quickly to get the best lift out of the leaveners, portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 375F for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are just starting to turn golden and a skewer poked into the centre of one comes out clean. Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing them from the pan to finish cooling. Be careful while taking the muffins out of their baking containers - these ones are quite tender while they are hot and might break if not handled gently, although they firm up just enough once they are cool. 

Eat them warm or at room temperature. These can also be frozen for up to 1 month. 

Enjoy!